This invention relates to encoding systems, and more particularly to apparatus which can determine and tally food items selected on encoded menus.
Numerous institutions must serve food to their patrons. For example, restaurants, hospitals, schools, as well as government agencies, including military installations, all serve food to many people. While some of these institutions provide a fixed menu without offering any selection, it is more common to provide a menu where the individual user can select his desired choice of food items from the available listings on the menu.
When the dealing with large numbers of people to be served, and where it is required to provide a choice of menu selection, it becomes extremely difficult to prepare the proper number of portions for any particular food item, and it is very difficult to order the proper amount of food needed. For example, in a restaurant or military installation where menus are distributed prior to each meal, the menu may contain a choice of entrees, vegetables, desserts, etc. The individuals can then make their selection. However, the kitchen staff must then determine the total number of each type of entree, each type of vegetable, etc., before they can begin to prepare the meal.
In some situations, the kitchen staff prepares a fixed amount of each of the available items and distribute them on a first-come-first-serve basis. As a result, in many cases, people coming to restaurants late, can no longer obtain the full choice of menu items since these have been used up, and insufficient numbers have been prepared. The alternative is to have someone count individually each of the requested items and prepare the exact amount needed. However, when dealing with thousands of individuals, it becomes a difficult task to properly coordinate and count each food item for each meal.
The above problem becomes even more complicated when dealing with a situation such as a hospital, where different types of diets are needed. For example, some individuals require a salt free diet, others require a fluid diet, there are also low sodium diets, high protein diets, etc. In some situations there are as many as 10 or 20 individual diet variations for each meal. Furthermore, each of these diets must offer different choices of foods, and on respective diets even the same food must be prepared differently. For example, the same fish meal must be prepared differently on a salt free diet as compared to a regular diet. As a result, the total number of variations of choices including the various diets, meals, and food items, becomes extremely large and unmanageable.
An additional problem is that the printed menu itself must be prepared in a manner that the individual can easily make his selections. Accordingly, the menu must contain a full printed text of the food items and the available choices between them. At the same time, it must have the availability of permitting the individual to make a selection by placing appropriate markings on the menu to indicate his desired choice of food items for each meal.
One alternative, is to automate the process. However, the problem is how to associate particular food items with different types of menus, and how to arrange the meals. menus and different food items, in an appropriate manner, to provide simplified output results for each food item, while distinguishing the results for the different diets and meals. Futhermore, the menu itself must be maintained in a simple manner without making it overly complex. A further requirement is that the apparatus must be automatic and yet be small enough to be maintained in a kitchen without occupying too large a space.